Wireless technologies require antennas to transmit and receive information. Normally, antennas are tuned, shaped, and focused to particular frequencies and/or directions to maximize transmission/reception signal strength and to reduce interference. Installation of such antennas is time consuming, geographically challenging, and costly. Coverage is a key selling point for any wireless service provider. The overuse of a geographic location's shared frequency spectrum can impact wireless services at least as much as a lack of signal.
In the United States, many roads are designed to implement an inductance loop sensor to detect the presence of a vehicle. A typical installation includes an inductance loop sensor embedded in the road by a Department of Transportation. The inductance loop sensor can sense the metal of the vehicle by very low frequency sympathetic oscillation. Multiple inductance loops can be integrated to detect the speed of a car. A given inductance loop might have one or more cars positioned over it at any given time. For example, at a stoplight, one or more cars might be stopped over an inductance loop for several minutes, and while stopped, there is a high probability of increased data use by connected vehicles, passengers, through hands-free interfaces, and drivers, such as: map/route/traffic information, texting, checking email, checking social media, and the like—regardless of the legality. Wireless service providers often see usage spikes in the cell sites that serve these locations, particularly when traffic is heavy and the likelihood of multiple cars stopped at a given intersection is higher.